Tough Mudder has announced the dates and venues for the Toughest Mudder races for 2018.

March 3: Toughest Mudder West: Los Angeles

May 5: Toughest Mudder South: Central Texas

May 12: Toughest Mudder Midlands: UK

June 2: Toughest Mudder Midwest: Michigan

June 16: Toughest Mudder Scotland

June 23: Toughest Mudder Northeast: Boston

March 3: Toughest Mudder West.

In 2017 Toughest Mudder West was held at the Los Angeles venue at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino. Tough Mudder is moving to a new venue for 2018 at Polsa Rosa Ranch. Polsa Rosa Ranch is a popular location for movie filming. Among movies that have used the ranch are Titanic, The Lone Ranger, and Windtalkers.

May 5: Toughest Mudder South.

Last year Toughest Mudder South was held near Atlanta. The 2018 race will be held at the Central Texas venue, about an hour outside Austin, Texas. More on Atlanta later.

May 12: Toughest Mudder UK: Midlands.

This date and venue was already announced, but with the new North America dates announced we now know Toughest Mudder Midlands will be held one week after Toughest Mudder South. In 2017 Toughest Mudder Philly was one week after Toughest Mudder UK and Sara Knight suffered an overuse injury that bothered her for the rest of the Toughest races that year. Knight was one of the “Four Horsemen” that ran all six Toughest Mudder races in 2017.

June 2: Toughest Mudder Midwest

The 2017 Toughest Mudder Midwest race was held outside Chicago. In 2018 the Midwest race will be held in Michigan, about an hour north of Detroit and a little over an hour west of Sarnia, in Ontario, Canada. With no Toughest Mudder Canada announced yet, this may be the closest Toughest for Mudders north of the border.

June 16: Toughest Mudder UK: Scotland

Along with the Midlands UK race, this date and venue were previously announced. Like Midlands, this race is separated from another US Toughest race by one week. Toughest Mudder Northeast will follow Scotland one week later.

June 23: Toughest Mudder Northeast

The sixth and (as far as we know) final Toughest Mudder of the year will be held on June 23rd. In 2017 the Northeast race was held outside Philadelphia. In 2018 it will be held at a brand new venue: Boston.

With the exception of Toughest Mudder Midlands, every Toughest Mudder in 2018 will be at a brand new location. Even though the West race is “in” Los Angeles, it’s at a new venue. The Boston venue for the Northeast race is new to all of Tough Mudder. Scotland is an entirely new venue for Toughest Mudder, and Michigan and Texas are returning Tough Mudder locations, but brand new for Toughest Mudder. Even if you ran every Toughest Mudder in North America last year, every race in 2018 will be at a new location for you.

What about World’s Toughest Mudder 2018?

Several months ago Matt B. Davis noticed the 2018 date for Tough Mudder Atlanta was later than usual. Much later. In fact, Tough Mudder Atlanta will be held three weeks before the weekend WTM is usually scheduled for. In the past Tough Mudder Vegas has been held two to three weeks before World’s Toughest Mudder. WTM has been held on the second weekend of November in Las Vegas for several years. With Tough Mudder officially announcing 2017 will be the last year in Vegas, Matt connected the dots and predicted WTM 2018 would be held in Atlanta. After a recent appearance on Fox News Will Dean, the CEO of Tough Mudder passed on some info to a member of the WTM community. He wouldn’t give the exact location, but Dean said next year’s WTM would be on the east coast, and it would be warm. Toughest Mudder Atlanta was widely considered the warmest of all six Toughest Mudder’s last year, and even in November, Georgia should be a warm venue. Even though there are arguments against Atlanta (it has a terrible airport) it looks like the site of World’s Toughest Mudder 2018 will be Atlanta, Georgia.

Tough Mudder announced another new TV show premiering in 2017. The six episodes of the yet untitled show will follow a team of regular people as they train and prepare to run a Tough Mudder together. The first five episodes will air on CW Seed, the CW’s digital network with the season finale airing on The CW. The CW network is co-owned by CBS and Warner Bros.

Tough Mudder has already announced plans with the CBS Sports Network for TV coverage of World’s Toughest Mudder. CBS Sports Network will air three shows previewing, showing, and recapping World’s Toughest Mudder this December, as well as coverage next year of the Toughest Mudder series. For more information on the CBS Sports Network shows check out this article by Matt B. Davis.

The CW show will not focus on the elite athletes of World’s Toughest Mudder. It will highlight “everyday heroes” with inspirational stories of people who have overcome challenges in their life and found community through Tough Mudder.

Coming on the heels of Spartan’s disappointing reality/competition show some may dismiss the CW Tough Mudder show. However, anyone who has heard Sean Corvelle at the start line of a Tough Mudder knows they are standing next to people battling cancer, dealing with PTSD, fighting obesity and any number of other struggles. These people, just like Jim Campbell, Ryan Atkins, and anyone else who “earns their headband”, are all a part of the Mudder Nation.

The Spartan Race U.S. Championship Series (USCS) is a five race series to determine which male and female Spartan Race athletes will hold the title of U.S. Champion. The series is televised on the NBCSN network. Each athlete’s final score is determined by the cumulative number of points she earned across each of the five races. The lowest individual point score is dropped leaving each racer with her four best races counting toward their final score. A first place finish is worth 300 points, a second place finish is worth 299 points and so on down the line. A perfect score with 4 (or 5) wins in the series is worth 1,200 points.

Lindsay Webster dominated her competition in the 2016 Spartan U.S. Championship Series. Her performance was so overwhelming that her series victory was secure before the last race had even been run. Lindsey won each of the first four races in the series for a perfect 1200 points. Right behind her in the points total and at every race was Faye Stenning. Much like Webster won every race she ran, Stenning placed second in every race she ran. Like Webster, Stenning had already secured her place on the series podium with her four second place finishes. However, when Webster opted to sit out the final race in the series, Stenning was finally able to bring home a first place finish.

If Webster and Stenning can maintain this level of competition, Spartan will have a legitimate rivalry on their hands. With former world champion Amelia Boone finally on the mend after a serious leg injury, 2017 should be an exciting year of elite Spartan Racing for the women.

With the top two spots in the U.S. Championship Series already decided, the final race in Breckenridge became a battle for USCS third place. The two athletes with the best shot to join Webster and Stenning on the podium were Rose Wetzel and KK Paul. Wetzel finished Breckenridge with a strong third place finish, winning her spot on the podium. Paul finished a disappointing sixth, eight minutes behind Wetzel.

“The Summit” Results – Breckenridge Beast Elite Women

Lindsay Webster finished the 2016 U.S. Championship Series in first place with 1200 points. Faye Stenning finished in second with 1197 points and Rose Wetzel finished in third with 1191 points. With dominating performances and budding rivalries, Spartan has much to be proud of. The five-race format has been a great success on both the Men’s and Women’s sides. OCR enthusiasts have much to look forward to from future Series Championships.

Congratulations to all the women who raced in the inaugural Spartan U.S. Championship Series and congratulations to Spartan U.S. Champion Lindsay Webster.

This weekend was the final race in the inaugural Spartan Race U.S. Championship Series. The USCS is a five race series to determine which male and female Spartan Race athletes will hold the title of U.S. Champion. The series is televised on the NBCSN network.

Each athletes final score is determined by the cumulative number of points they earned across each of the five races. The lowest individual point score is dropped leaving each racer with their four best races counting toward their final score. A first place finish is worth 300 points, a second place finish is worth 299 points and so on down the line. A perfect score with 4 (or 5) wins in the series is worth 1,200 points.

As the series began, Ryan Atkins looked unstoppable. He rattled off three quick wins in the first three races. In the fourth race at Asheville, North Carolina, Atkins finally came up against an opponent he couldn’t beat: The Spartan Race officials. Atkins was disqualified for failing the rope climb and not completing the required penalty of 30 burpees. In an interview afterward with ORM’s Matt B. Davis, Atkins told how the first rope he grabbed was coated in clay and unclimbable. Atkins described what happened next.

I guess I’m used to racing mandatory obstacle completion races where if you screw something up you just find a lane that works as fast as you can and get it done. I had never failed an obstacle at Spartan. So I went and I climbed a different rope.

The controversy of Atkin’s disqualification was magnified by a similar situation with Robert Killian on the Multi-Rig obstacle. As Killian neared the end of the obstacle he appeared to touch the ground with his foot, causing him to fail the obstacle. The Spartan official at the obstacle did not penalize him and Killian continued. After viewing video of the incident Killian offered to “self-DQ”, but Spartan declined and said the decision of the official would stand.

Going into the final race this weekend, Atkins could secure the series win with a third place finish or better. A fourth place finish for Atkins combined with a first place for Hunter McIntyre would allow McIntyre to tie Atkins for first place in the series. A fifth place finish at Breckenridge for Atkins combined with a win by defending Spartan Race World Champion Robert Killian would mean a tie for first between Atkins and Killian.

Atkins made it interesting by finishing in fifth place at Breckenridge. McIntyre could have claimed the title with a win but ultimately finished in fourth place. McIntyre was 24 seconds in front of Atkins and six minutes and 42 seconds behind the winner.

Atkins’ surprising finish also gave Robert Killian a chance to claim first place in the series. With a win at Breckenridge and Atkins finishing in fifth place, Killian and Atkins would have been tied in series points and Killian would have won the tiebreaker by virtue of a better finish at Breckenridge.

Killian fell just short with a second-place finish that was three minutes and 33 seconds behind the winner – Cody Moat.

Stop for a minute. Imagine the controversy that would have resulted from Killian winning the championship on a tiebreaker after the disqualification incidents at Asheville. Spartan is extremely lucky that did not happen. Joe DeSena should thank Cody Moat and take him out for a nice lunch at Zaxby’s.

“The Summit” Results – Breckenridge Beast Elite Men’s Results

Ryan Atkins finished the 2016 U.S. Championship Series in first place with 1196 points. Robert Killian finished in second with 1195 points and Hunter McIntyre finished in third with 1194 points. Congratulations to everyone who raced in the Spartan USCS, but especially to these men.

This weekend is the fifth and final race in the Spartan Race U.S. Championship Series. “The Summit” is a Beast-length course with 13+ miles and 30+ obstacles and the course is on the mountains in Breckenridge, Colorado.

There are three men with a legitimate chance to claim the series win, but Ryan Atkins controls his own destiny. Hunter McIntyre and Robert Killian both have a shot, but they need a little help to get there.

At the end of the five-race series, each runner’s lowest individual race score is dropped. By removing each runner’s lowest current score we can see where they stand against each other. A first place finish is worth 300 points, a second place is worth 299 and so on. Atkins has three 1st place finishes for 900 points. McIntyre has one 1st, one 2nd, and one 3rd, for 897 points. Killian has two 2nds and one 3rd for 896 points.

If Atkins finishes in 3rd place or better he will be the 2016 Spartan U.S. Champion.

If McIntyre finishes in 1st, AND Atkins finishes in 5th place or worse, McIntyre will win the championship.

If Killian finishes in 1st, AND Atkins finishes in 6th place or worse, AND McIntyre finishes in 3rd or worse, Killian will win the title.

There are also several ways Spartan could end up with a tie for first place. Here are a few:

Atkins and McIntyre tied for first place overall: McIntyre wins, Atkins finishes in 4th.

Atkins and Killian tied for first place overall: Killian wins, Atkins finishes in 5th.

McIntyre and Killian tied for first place overall: Killian wins, McIntyre finishes in 2nd, Atkins finishes 6th or worse.

Three Way Tie for first place overall: Killian wins, McIntyre finishes in 2nd, Atkins finishes in 5th.

Any one of those scenarios could easily happen. Ryan Atkins could save Spartan from doing a lot of math (although honestly, we already did it for them. We’re happy to show our work Joe) by winning his fourth series race in five outings.

This weekend is the fifth and final race in the Spartan Race U.S. Championship Series. The race is held in Breckenridge, Colorado and is called “The Summit”. It is a Beast-length course with 13-plus miles and 30-plus obstacles. No matter what happens on Saturday, Lindsay Webster, who has finished 1st in each of the first 4 USCS races, has won first place and Faye Stenning, who has finished 2nd in each of the first 4 USCA races, has won second place in the 2016 Spartan Race U.S. Championship Series. However, 3rd place is still up for grabs this weekend in Breckenridge.

In the driver’s seat is Rose Wetzel, with two third place finishes and one fourth place finish. Rose did not race at the Blue Mountain Challenge in Palmerton but still has the best shot at third place overall. This is because the lowest individual race score is dropped from each racer’s total. With a strong performance this weekend, Wetzel’s absence at Palmerton will have no impact on her final overall score.

The athlete with the best chance to challenge Wetzel for the USCS third place trophy is KK Paul. She has one third place, one fourth place, and one fifth place finish, as well as an eighth place finish she will be able to drop with a strong performance Saturday.

By dropping the low scores from both Paul and Wetzel we can see Wetzel holds a narrow edge over Paul in Series Points. A first place finish is worth 300 points, second place is 299 and so on. Wetzel’s three best finishes are 3rd, 3rd, and 4th, for a total of 893 points. Paul’s three best finishes are 3rd, 4th, and 5th for a total of 891 points.

If Wetzel beats Paul this weekend or finishes one place behind Paul, Wetzel will win third place overall.

If Paul finishes Breckenridge three (or more) places ahead of Wetzel, she will overtake Wetzel and win the overall third place.

If Paul were to beat Wetzel, but if Wetzel finishes EXACTLY two places behind Paul (1st and 3rd, 2nd and 4th, etc) then Paul and Wetzel will share the podium step for overall third place in the 2016 Spartan U.S. Championship Series.